But I must own that I also felt stirred by an unselfish desire to voice all the joys and sorrows, the hopes and ambitions, of the American Negro, in classic musical form. — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
Any musical person who has never heard a Negro congregation under the spell of religious fervor sing these old songs has missed one of the most thrilling emotions which the human heart may experience. — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
There are a great many colored people who are ashamed of the cake-walk, but I think they ought to be proud of it. — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
Nothing great or enduring, especially in music, has ever sprung full-fledged and unprecedented from the brain of any master; the best he gives to… — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
Lift every voice and sing Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty. Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening… — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
A people may become great through many means, but there is only one measure by which its greatness is recognized and acknowledged. The final… — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
Americans are immensely popular in Paris; and this is not due solely to the fact that they spend lots of money there, for they… — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
This Great God, Like a mammy bending over her baby, Kneeled down in the dust Toiling over a lump of clay Till He shaped… — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
Shortly after this I was made a member of the boys choir, it being found that I possessed a clear, strong soprano voice. I… — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
This country can have no more democracy than it accords and guarantees to the humblest and weakest citizen. — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
So God stepped over to the edge of the world And He spat out the seven seas; He batted His eyes, and the lightnings… — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
My mother was kept very busy with her sewing; sometimes she would have another woman helping her. — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered. — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
